Blog is all about words because they matter, they influence, they entertain and when you put them down on a page in a meaningful order, they acquire permanence. Contained here are a bunch of written words in the form of book reviews, magazine and web article links & summaries and other stuff I like to write about. Currently aiming to read and write on two books a month.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Alabama Tornado Story for SI by Lars Anderson

Really compelling and well written cover story in the May 23 issue of Sports Illustrated.

Written by Lars Anderson, Terror, Tragedy And Hope In Tuscaloosa is about the devastating tornado of April 27 and delves into the storm's impact on the University of Alabama and it's community... with 6 UA students among the 41 dead in town.

The writing comes across as very personal and contributing to that is Anderson's mention of living in neighboring Birmingham. While this inclusion violates the widely held writing rule of not injecting oneself into a story, it seems appropriate here.

It's profound stuff and does an excellent job of looking at the role of sports (particularly Alabama football) in a community. There's solid linkage of what sports means to people, but not to the point of overreaching in describing it's importance.